Inside Hawaii's False Ballistic Missile Alert

January 16, 2018

9mo ago

Officials in Hawaii and beyond are looking for answers after a false missile notification sent most of its 1.4 million residents into a panic this weekend.

Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI) told Cheddar that many constituents assumed that the missile was coming from North Korea. If that were the case, it would’ve only taken 20 minutes before it hit Hawaiian land.

“But we took 38 minutes to withdraw this, and not everyone got notice, which is part of the problem,” she said. “What I’m hearing more and more is were we really prepared? Why wasn’t someone watching the screen? Why wasn’t it retracted?”

FCC chairman Ajit Pai has opened on investigation into the incident, saying the state didn’t have “reasonable safeguards” in place to stop the false alert from being sent.

The ominous alert, which didn’t reach all Hawaiians, encouraged residents to seek shelter from an inbound ballistic missile, but gave no specifics. Hanabusa says that early Saturday was "really pandemonium."